The minister of home affairs or the home minister is the head of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most portfolios in the Central Cabinet, the chief responsibility of the home minister is the maintenance of the internal security of India; the country's large police force comes under its jurisdiction. Occasionally, they are assisted by the minister of state of home affairs and the lower-ranked deputy minister of home affairs.
Ever since the time of independent India's first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the office has been seen as second in seniority only to the prime minister in the Central cabinet. Like Patel, home ministers Yashwantrao Chavan and L. K. Advani have since held the additional portfolio of deputy prime minister. As of today, three home ministers have gone on to become the prime minister: Lal Bahadur Shastri, Charan Singh and P. V. Narasimha Rao. Amit Shah is the current and the longest serving home minister in history from 30 May 2019 till date.
On several occasions, the prime minister also held the additional portfolio of the minister of home affairs. Jawaharlal Nehru briefly acted as home minister in 1950 following the demise of Vallabhbhai Patel, Indira Gandhi briefly served as home minister in 1966 following resignation of Gulzarilal Nanda, Morarji Desai held the portfolio from 1978 till 1979, Chandra Shekhar throughout his prime ministerial tenure and H. D. Deve Gowda briefly served as home minister in 1996.
P. Chidambaram who served as the home minister from 2008 till 2012 has the rare distinction of serving as both cabinet minister and minister of state in the ministry. He served as minister of state from 1986 till 1989. The current minister is Amit Shah of the Bharatiya Janata Party who has been in office since 30 May 2019 and succeeded his party colleague Rajnath Singh as the home minister.
Cabinet ministers
No.PortraitMinisterTerm of officePolitical party MinistryPrime Minister From To Period 1 Vallabhbhai Patel(Deputy Prime Minister) 15 August1947 15 December1950 Indian National Congress Nehru I Jawaharlal Nehru 2 Jawaharlal Nehru(Prime Minister) 15 December1950 26 December1950 3 C. Rajagopalachari 26 December1950 5 November1951 4 Kailash Nath Katju 5 November1951 13 May1952 13 May1952 10 January1955 Nehru II 5 Govind Ballabh Pant 10 January1955 17 April1957 17 April1957 7 March1961 Nehru III 6 Lal Bahadur Shastri 8 March 1961 10 April1962 11 April1962 29 August1963 Nehru IV 7 Gulzarilal Nanda(Prime Minister from27 May9 June 1964; and1124 January 1966) 1 September1963 27 May1964 27 May1964 9 June1964 Nanda I Self 9 June1964 11 January1966 Shastri Lal Bahadur Shastri 11 January1966 24 January1966 Nanda II Self 24 January1966 9 November1966 Indira I Indira Gandhi 8 Indira Gandhi(Prime Minister) 9 November1966 13 November1966 9 Yashwantrao Chavan 13 November1966 13 March1967 13 March1967 27 June1970 Indian National Congress (R) Indira II (8) Indira Gandhi(Prime Minister) 27 June1970 13 March1971 13 March1971 5 February1973 Indira III 10 Uma Shankar Dikshit 5 February1973 10 October1974 11 Kasu Brahmananda Reddy 10 October1974 24 March1977 12 Charan Singh 24 March1977 1 July1978 Janata Party Desai Morarji Desai 13 Morarji Desai(Prime Minister) 1 July1978 24 January1979 14 Hirubhai M. Patel 24 January1979 28 July1979 (9) Yashwantrao Chavan(Deputy Prime Minister) 28 July1979 14 January1980 Indian National Congress (Urs) Charan Charan Singh 15 Zail Singh 14 January1980 22 June1982 Indian National Congress (I) Indira IV Indira Gandhi 16 Ramaswamy Venkataraman 22 June1982 2 September1982 17 Prakash Chandra Sethi 2 September1982 19 July1984 18 P. V. Narasimha Rao 19 July1984 31 October1984 31 October1984 31 December1984 Rajiv I Rajiv Gandhi 19 Shankarrao Chavan 31 December1984 12 March1986 Rajiv II (18) P. V. Narasimha Rao 12 March1986 12 May1986 20 Buta Singh 12 May1986 2 December1989 21 Mufti Mohammad Sayeed 2 December1989 10 November1990 Janata Dal Vishwanath Vishwanath Pratap Singh 22 Chandra Shekhar(Prime Minister) 10 November1990 21 June1991 Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) Chandra Shekhar Himself (19) Shankarrao Chavan 21 June1991 16 May1996 Indian National Congress (I) Rao P. V. Narasimha Rao 23 Murli Manohar Joshi 16 May1996 1 June1996 Bharatiya Janata Party Vajpayee I Atal Bihari Vajpayee 24 H. D. Deve Gowda(Prime Minister) 1 June1996 29 June1996 Janata Dal Deve Gowda H. D. Deve Gowda 25 Indrajit Gupta 29 June1996 21 April1997 Communist Party of India 21 April1997 19 March1998 Gujral Inder Kumar Gujral 26 L. K. Advani(Deputy Prime Ministerfrom 29 June 2002) 19 March1998 13 October1999 Bharatiya Janata Party Vajpayee II Atal Bihari Vajpayee 13 October1999 22 May2004 Vajpayee III 27 Shivraj Patil 23 May2004 30 November2008 Indian National Congress Manmohan I Manmohan Singh 28 P. Chidambaram 30 November2008 22 May2009 23 May2009 31 July2012 Manmohan II 29 Sushilkumar Shinde 31 July2012 26 May2014 30 Rajnath Singh 26 May2014 30 May2019 Bharatiya Janata Party Modi I Narendra Modi 31 Amit Shah 30 May2019 9 June2024 Modi II 9 June2024 Incumbent Modi III
Ministers of state No.PortraitMinisterTerm of officePolitical party MinistryPrime Minister From To Period 1 Rustom Khurshedji Sidhwa 11 October1951 13 May1952 Indian National Congress Nehru I Jawaharlal Nehru 2 B. N. Datar 14 February1956 17 April1957 Nehru II 17 April1957 10 April1962 Nehru III 16 April1962 13 February1963 Nehru IV 3 Ramchandra Martand Hajarnavis 22 February1963 10 March1964 4 Jaisukhlal Hathi 10 March1964 27 May1964 27 May1964 9 June1964 Nanda I Gulzarilal Nanda 9 June1964 11 January1966 Shastri Lal Bahadur Shastri 11 January1966 24 January1966 Nanda II Gulzarilal Nanda 24 January1966 13 November1966 Indira I Indira Gandhi 5 Vidya Charan Shukla 13 March1967 27 June1970 6 Ram Niwas Mirdha(Personnel and Administrative Reforms) 27 June1970 18 March1971 Indian National Congress (R) 7 K. C. Pant 27 June1970 18 March1971 18 March1971 9 November1973 Indira II 8 Om Mehta(Personnel and Administrative Reforms) 10 October1974 24 March1977 9 S. D. Patil 14 August1977 28 July1979 Janata Party Desai Morarji Desai 10 Dhanik Lal Mandal 14 August1977 15 July1979 30 July1979 14 January1980 Janata Party (Secular) Charan Charan Singh 11 Pendekanti Venkatasubbaiah 14 January1980 31 October1984 Indian National Congress (I) Indira III Indira Gandhi 12 Yogendra Makwana 14 January1980 15 January1982 13 Nihar Ranjan Laskar 15 January1982 7 February1984 14 Ram Dulari Sinha 7 February1984 31 October1984 (11) Pendekanti Venkatasubbaiah 4 November1984 31 December1984 Rajiv I Rajiv Gandhi (14) Ram Dulari Sinha 4 November1984 31 December1984 31 December1984 25 September1985 Rajiv II 15 Arif Mohammad Khan 12 August1985 25 September1985 16 P. A. Sangma(States) 25 September1985 20 January1986 17 Arun Nehru(Internal Security) (6) Ram Niwas Mirdha 14 March1986 14 June1986 18 Ghulam Nabi Azad(States) 12 May1986 22 October1986 19 P. Chidambaram 24 June1986 2 December1989 20 Chintamani Panigrahi 22 October1986 25 June1988 21 Santosh Mohan Dev(Internal Security) 25 June1988 2 December1989 22 Subodh Kant Sahay 23 April1990 5 November1990 Janata Dal Vishwanath Vishwanath Pratap Singh 21 November1990 21 June1991 Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) Chandra Shekhar Chandra Shekhar 23 M. M. Jacob 21 June1991 17 January1993 Indian National Congress (I) Rao P. V. Narasimha Rao 24 Rajesh Pilot(Internal Security) 18 January1993 15 September1995 25 P. M. Sayeed 19 January1993 26 Syed Sibtey Razi 15 September1995 16 May1996 27 Ram Lal Rahi 28 Meijinlung Kamson 29 Mohammed Taslimuddin 1 June1996 9 June1996 Janata Dal Deve Gowda H. D. Deve Gowda 30 Maqbool Dar 10 July1996 21 April1997 1 May1997 19 March1998 Gujral Inder Kumar Gujral 31 Ram Naik 5 May1999 13 October1999 Bharatiya Janata Party Vajpayee II Atal Bihari Vajpayee 32 I. D. Swami 13 October1999 22 May2004 Vajpayee III 33 C. Vidyasagar Rao 13 October1999 29 January2003 34 Harin Pathak 29 January2003 22 May2004 35 Chinmayanand Swami 24 May2003 22 May2004 36 Manikrao Hodlya Gavit 23 May2004 6 April2007 Indian National Congress Manmohan I Manmohan Singh 37 Shriprakash Jaiswal 23 May2004 22 May2009 38 S. Regupathy 23 May2004 15 May2007 Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 38 V. Radhika Selvi 18 May2007 22 May2009 39 Shakeel Ahmad 6 April2008 22 May2009 Indian National Congress 40 Mullappally Ramachandran 28 May2009 26 May2014 Manmohan II 41 Ajay Maken 28 May2009 19 January2011 42 Gurudas Kamat 19 January2011 12 July2011 43 Jitendra Singh 12 July2011 28 October2012 44 R. P. N. Singh 28 October2012 26 May2014 45 Kiren Rijiju 26 May2014 30 May2019 Bharatiya Janata Party Modi I Narendra Modi 46 Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary 9 November2014 5 July2016 47 Hansraj Gangaram Ahir 5 July2016 30 May2019 48 G. Kishan Reddy 30 May2019 7 July2021 Modi II 49 Nityanand Rai 30 May2019 9 June2024 50 Ajay Mishra Teni 7 July2021 9 June2024 51 Nisith Pramanik (49) Nityanand Rai 9 June2024 Incumbent Modi III 52 Bandi Sanjay Kumar
Deputy ministers No.PortraitMinisterTerm of officePolitical party MinistryPrime Minister From To Period 1 B. N. Datar 12 August1952 14 February1956 Indian National Congress Nehru II Jawaharlal Nehru 2 Violet Alva 23 April1957 10 April1962 Indian National Congress Nehru III 3 Maragatham Chandrasekar 8 May1962 27 May1964 Indian National Congress Nehru IV 4 Lalit Narayan Mishra 26 February1964 27 May1964 (3) Maragatham Chandrasekar 27 May1964 9 June1964 Nanda I Gulzarilal Nanda (4) Lalit Narayan Mishra 27 May1964 9 June1964 9 June1964 11 January1966 Shastri Lal Bahadur Shastri 11 January1966 24 January1966 Nanda II Gulzarilal Nanda 5 Purnendu Sekhar Naskar 24 January1966 13 March1967 Indira I Indira Gandhi 6 Vidya Charan Shukla 14 February1966 13 March1967 7K. S. Ramaswamy 18 March1967 18 March1971 Indira II 8 Fakruddinsab Hussensab Mohsin 2 May1971 24 March1977 Indian National Congress (R) Indira III Indira Gandhi 9 Ram Lal Rahi 21 June1991 15 September1995 Indian National Congress (I) Rao P. V. Narasimha Rao
Length of Tenure List by length of tenure #Home MinisterPartyLength of term Longest continuous term Total tenure 1 Amit Shah 2 L K Advani 6 years, 64 days 6 years, 64 days 3 Govind Vallabh Pant 6 years, 56 days 6 years, 56 days4 Shankarao Chavan 4 years, 330 days 6 years, 36 days 5 Rajnath Singh 5 years, 4 days 5 years, 4 days
References
External links Home Ministry, Govt. of India Amit Shah take charge of Home Ministry of India 2019